I am going to conduct a second tournament involving all Eastern Front scenarios. The Eastern Front was the largest military confrontation in history. All other fronts in WW2 paled in comparison. Hopefully, these scenarios will depict in some degree the ferocity of the conflict between the Soviets and the Germans. There will be a large number of units and consequently a large number of victory medals. Urban warfare was common throughout the 4 years of conflict, and will be highlighted in many scenarios. Some of the scenarios will take a long time to play. You must be mentally tough to last through these scenarios and the tournament. They will be a grind. They will not be 6 medal, 20 minute games.

Anyway, what I would like for those who do want to play is the following:

1. Name

2. What format you would prefer for the tournament, Teams playing one side(like our Med. front tournament) or playing both sides like the BGG tournaments.

3. Please visit the SFTF page(below) and look over carefully the 19 scenarios that are posted. List 5 of them you find interesting and would like to play. Some already have been posted before, but many are there for the first time.

4. Anyone who signs up and has a SFTF Eastern Front scenario they would like to have included in this tournament, list here.

5. Number of scenarios you would like to play in the tournament.

That's pretty much it. The only scenario of mine we will definitely play is 'Stalingrad North, Rattenkrieg'.

Thanks,

LooneyLlama(Eric)

P.S. There will be no time limit to complete each round, but do not sign up if more than 2 weeks pass by where you can't play. I anticipate the tournament to start sometime after January 1st.

I have taken a short look at the scenarios and they seemed all bloody interesting to play. Would you mind if I copied some of them for private or public play?

I would like to join in your tournament. Any way it is played. Perhaps one of the things you can do is ask all the participants to put up one of these maps.
In that way, they will be available for a longer period.

Another idea from the french forum, the way the french metagame is played and the game of Risk or Axis and Allies, is to make a geographical map of these scenarios and have some kind of campaign where the teams defend there areas or conquer and takeover the others finally conquer either Moskou or Berlin. You can even give teams a number of units to spread across their areas to determine defensive strength.

2. What format you would prefer for the tournament, Teams playing one side(like our Med. front tournament) or playing both sides like the BGG tournaments. / I actually like the idea of team play playing one side.

3. Please visit the SFTF page(below) and look over carefully the 19 scenarios that are posted. List 5 of them you find interesting and would like to play. Some already have been posted before, but many are there for the first time. /

2. I don't really care about the format, as long as everybody get's to play. (So, no knock-out competition.) I realise that for some players there will be no incentive to play if they have no chance of winning anymore, but for myself I would still like to play all the scenarios. Teams is fine too, it promotes the camaraderie. But playing two sides of a scenario is also a plus point.

3. This will take some time as you stated carefully, will have to get back to you on this one.

4. I have not used the editor to this date, so will not be contributing. Just sponging of you guys.

5. I really don't care.

I am looking forward to playing Stalingrad North, Rattenkrieg again, and again and again.

Extra info for other players: LooneyLlama's tournaments will not give you a fast paced tournament with a quick succession of games. What it will give you, based on my experience, is interesting scenarios with lots of tactical options and (almost always) no easy "solutions". He also promises long battles with lots of urban fighting. So this one will last, and last and last.
Also his tournaments tend to attract players who are highly motivated: to win, to play (sometimes at ungodly hours of the day) to discuss tactics, to play fair and to help each other out (when not being opponents in a game of course.) So if you like that kind of play, do join us!

2. What format you would prefer for the tournament, Teams playing one side(like our Med. front tournament) or playing both sides like the BGG tournaments:

Any would do obviously, enjoying the team format of the current tourney, otherwise 2 games are reasonable or perhaps alternate sides split evenly among the number of scenarios. Personally like the team concept, more for team glory than individual honor!! (Less pressure)

3. Please visit the SFTF page(below) and look over carefully the 19 scenarios that are posted. List 5 of them you find interesting and would like to play. Some already have been posted before, but many are there for the first time:

On this was I will defer to the more experienced and skillful players!! All look interesting and look to be a handful!!

4. Anyone who signs up and has a SFTF Eastern Front scenario they would like to have included in this tournament, list here:

I am like Jeronimon, enjoy the fruits of others labors!! Keep up the excellent work!!

5. Number of scenarios you would like to play in the tournament:

5-10, probably an even number or otherwise I play what is decided and enjoy the experience and learn from the best!!

Eric,

Thanks for taking the time to organize and obviously thanks for all your hard work you put into designing your scenarios for the enjoyment of all the MM44 Community!

Jeronimon,

As always, your observations and comments are spot on!! If it has your stamp of approval that is always a good sign!! As we say in my chosen field of work, you are a SME!!

I would like to participate, but until January 9th I will not be able to play I think (I'll be in Italy to renew my VISA and see the family so...)
Let me know if I can participate and I'll answer to your questions.

For nothing in the world, I would miss your tournament. Too much fun in playing currently the Med tournament !

1. Name : Artimon

2. What format you would prefer for the tournament, Teams playing one side(like our Med. front tournament) or playing both sides like the BGG tournaments : both options could be fine for me. Play both sides is more balanced but less "team nation building". I like a lot your idea to discover scenarios in the tournament (meaning no test match before). Easy to put in place with gentlemen players

3. Please visit the SFTF page(below) and look over carefully the 19 scenarios that are posted. List 5 of them you find interesting and would like to play. Some already have been posted before, but many are there for the first time.
As the others players, I like a lot all your scenarios, so I trust in your choices

4. Anyone who signs up and has a SFTF Eastern Front scenario they would like to have included in this tournament, list here. Sorry, I have not yet designed any scenario but could publish one of your scenario if necessary

5. Number of scenarios you would like to play in the tournament. Eastern war was a long trial of battles, so at least 10 would be great !

I would also like love to play! I haven't had a chance yet to play in a Memoir 44' online tournament and I would love the chance!

1.) Name: Josiah, Username: JJs Juggernaut

2.) I would prefer playing both sides, thus any battles that are a little weighted don't affect the players too badly, plus you get to play a battle more than once!

3.) I will look into the scenarios listed and maybe mention a few later. However I will enjoy playing any scenarios. I do enjoy ones that use a good variation of units (as opposed to ones in which only infantry are used) and a good mix of special rules.

4.) None.

5.) I have no idea what a regular tournament would include in regards to number of scenarios (maybe 5-8), but I agree with Jeronimon that a no knockout bracket format would be nice, so that we all get to have lots of competition. Maybe you already have a bracket format worked out, but a couple of suggestions are:

A.) A simple round robin format where all players play each other, or at least most do, and then the person with the best record wins.

B.) An elimination bracket where the losers go to a separate bracket to keep playing (but this really stinks if you lose the first round and then have no chance of winning unless you have a way for people in the losers bracket can fight their way back into the tournament.)

C.) A variation of the two above suggestions like a bracket in which the players play a certain number of matches and then the half with the highest score (wins, with medals as a tie breaker?) goes to a separate bracket. Then both brackets play several more matches and the top halves in both go to a final bracket to play for first place, while the other halves go to a consolation bracket or are eliminated

After the Med tournament , I would like to participate your next tournament.

1. Name :
lucky91

2. What format you would prefer for the tournament, Teams playing one side(like our Med. front tournament) or playing both sides like the BGG tournaments :
I prefer both sides

3. Please visit the SFTF page(below) and look over carefully the 19 scenarios that are posted. List 5 of them you find interesting and would like to play. Some already have been posted before, but many are there for the first time:
I trust in your choices

4. Anyone who signs up and has a SFTF Eastern Front scenario they would like to have included in this tournament, list here.
no scenario created

I am going to conduct a second tournament involving all Eastern Front scenarios. The Eastern Front was the largest military confrontation in history. All other fronts in WW2 paled in comparison. Hopefully, these scenarios will depict in some degree the ferocity of the conflict between the Soviets and the Germans. There will be a large number of units and consequently a large number of victory medals. Urban warfare was common throughout the 4 years of conflict, and will be highlighted in many scenarios. Some of the scenarios will take a long time to play. You must be mentally tough to last through these scenarios and the tournament. They will be a grind. They will not be 6 medal, 20 minute games.

Anyway, what I would like for those who do want to play is the following:

1. Name

2. What format you would prefer for the tournament, Teams playing one side(like our Med. front tournament) or playing both sides like the BGG tournaments.

3. Please visit the SFTF page(below) and look over carefully the 19 scenarios that are posted. List 5 of them you find interesting and would like to play. Some already have been posted before, but many are there for the first time.

4. Anyone who signs up and has a SFTF Eastern Front scenario they would like to have included in this tournament, list here.

5. Number of scenarios you would like to play in the tournament.

That's pretty much it. The only scenario of mine we will definitely play is 'Stalingrad North, Rattenkrieg'.

Thanks,

LooneyLlama(Eric)

P.S. There will be no time limit to complete each round, but do not sign up if more than 2 weeks pass by where you can't play. I anticipate the tournament to start sometime after January 1st.

2. What format you would prefer for the tournament, Teams playing one side(like our Med. front tournament) or playing both sides like the BGG tournaments.

Would prefer teams, (especially given the reported length of the scenarios), but either would be fine.

3. Please visit the SFTF page(below) and look over carefully the 19 scenarios that are posted. List 5 of them you find interesting and would like to play. Some already have been posted before, but many are there for the first time.

I will try to do that this weekend. However, as has been mentioned by many others, I am sure that whatever you choose will be quite acceptable.

4. Anyone who signs up and has a SFTF Eastern Front scenario they would like to have included in this tournament, list here.

2. What format you would prefer for the tournament, Teams playing one side(like our Med. front tournament) or playing both sides like the BGG tournaments.One side

3. Please visit the SFTF page(below) and look over carefully the 19 scenarios that are posted. List 5 of them you find interesting and would like to play. Some already have been posted before, but many are there for the first time. I'll do it on those days, promise

4. Anyone who signs up and has a SFTF Eastern Front scenario they would like to have included in this tournament, list here.None
5. Number of scenarios you would like to play in the tournament.8-10

Thanks everyone for signing up! At this time we have 16 players(including me). I would like to have an even number of players so we will take only two more players. As far as the format goes, it seems evenly divided between team play and play both sides. Since there are a lot of players and I can only post one scenario at a time, I'm leaning toward team play. Some of these scenarios will take at least an hour to play. That's 2 hours for one match. With the time differential among us it may be very difficult to arrange a time to play where 2 hours are needed. You can always play both sides if time allows.

I will set team rosters. I will also appoint a team captain. They will set up matches, and we may again do the 2 point player. This is not set in stone. If you have any other ideas please let me know.

I have done my best to make the scenarios as even as possible. I will review them all again to fine tune if necessary. Please don't be caught up in winning and losing. I know most of you who have signed up, and I know you play the game for the love of it. It's a nice way to get all us diehards together.

As far as scenarios go, we will be playing Van Voort's 'Berlin' as our final battle. If no one else submits a scenario, we will play 9 others from me. I will put them in chronological order to give the feel of a campaign. One thing I can do, if you all agree, is after each scenario is played out, the winning side will get to either add a terrain hex, reduce an opponent's unit, or maybe even add a unit in the next scenario. Just let me know and it can be added to the next scenario before posting it online. It will give a campaign feel to the tournament.

If anyone would like to copy a scenario and put it online, feel free. Just let me know. I would like to follow how the percentages turn out. Also, don't forget to read my descriptions. Some of the board game rules do not work online, so I have incorporated these online bugs as online rules. Some of them are kind of fun and don't diminish from the normal game.

Finally, we will not be starting until after we complete the Med. Front tournament, which I anticipate won't occur until after Jan. 1st. So, please feel free to give me your ideas to make the upcoming tournament as enjoyable as possible.

Great idea. You get more advantage for higher differential. I also like the advantages you proposed for each medal difference. It would not be hard to do as I would already have the next scenario done and would just have to add the advantage. As I said, I will have all the scenarios completed before we start the tournament. There will be no changes once we start except for the medal differential change. What do you other guys think?

I just have one question. After the teams are decided, how do the teams face off against each other? Do all members of the team play that scenario and then the total medals (or wins) wins it for that team? Or does only one member from each team play a scenario (decided by team captain) and that decides who wins?

I haven't read up on the Med. Tournament thread, but I can if that is where I need to look to find specific rules. Thanks!

I am sorry to say that I am closing off any new players for this tournament at this time. I think 16 is enough with the format we are considering. If you want to be put on the waiting list, let me know here. New players will be added in order of request.

As a teaser, HELCAT, with over 1570 games in expert mode, will definitely be one of the team leaders. No one else is within 1,000 games! I don't know about you, but that is intimidating.

JJs,

Your team captain will determine who you will play each round(scenario). Everybody plays the same scenario. That would be 8 games. We then move on to the next scenario and the other captain decides who plays who. It goes back and forth until all ten scenarios are played. That way everybody gets to play every scenario. In each round your captain will also determine who your 2 point player will be. Every other game is worth 1 point.
After each round, scores are totalled and the advantage for the next round is applied(we didn't incorporate this in the Med. tourney).

A worthy team leader, whom I got to know the first time on. . . Rattenkrieg.

And the first brigadier to boot, so intimidating indeed.

On the board he will challenge your wit and try his best to crush you.

But I will let you in on a secret though: in real life he is a really nice and friendly person.

Ah, BG's, birds of a feather!! I recall or as best I can recall, I had a similar fate at the hands of a certain BG myself at one point!!

As "crushings" go, the best one I have ever experienced on the battlefield!! And as one befitting his rank, freely and wisely dispensed a few "GI's" of wisdom as well, eased the bitter taste of defeat!!

That will become highly chaotic.
Well, Jeronimon and I managed to find the battlefields in Belgium, where we were severly crushed. Alas. So let's move on to the Easternfront. Anyone got a compass? I tend to forget where I am and where I am going.

Eric, I love a lot your idea of bonus for the winning side, unscribing more the tournament in a "campaign" spirit. Proposals from Van Voort are just great also (real bonus but without changing a lot the balance of the map).

Just wanted to let everyone know that I got a chance to play HELCAT last night for a couple hours. We played some of our upcoming Eastern Front scenarios. He literally had me scratching my head thinking that these scenarios are unbalanced. His play is that good. I never had a chance in any of them. Be forewarned. HELCAT is a beast!

Looney, one of the things you have to learn in life: relate good luck to your own skill and bad luck to chance. If you do it the other way around you will suffer from a depression. In reality offcourse neither exist. Being severly beaten by my friendly driver to Belgium, I would urge you to write my name in very small capitals. We are still here to learn; not to know.

We will be playing it like we did with the Med. Front tournament. There will be two sides of 8 players each. The commanding officers will pick opponents and designate a 2 point player. Everyone will play each scenario from their designated side. That one side will determine whether you win or lose a point. You can switch sides for fun but it will not count toward victory. So, there will be a possibility of 9 points available each round.

After each round, point differentials will determine what 'advantage' will be awarded next round. The commanding general will determine how it will be implemented.

Here is what I propose thanks to VanVoort(any other ideas are still accepted):

If the differential after a round is:

1 point - dig in one unit
2 points - add one badge to one unit (infantry only)
3 points - add one infantry of your choice on your baseline or as close as possible.
4 points - add one regular armor unit on or as close to baseline as possible.
5 points or more - add any unit of your choice (except mobile artillery) on or 1 hex in front of the baseline.

The commanding Generals for each side are:

HELCAT and SAM1812

If they want, they can conduct a private draft for their teammates or I can assign their team. After the teams are selected I will assign which sides they will represent.

Looney

By the way, if there is one side your really want to play, as Van Voort has asked in the next post, let me know.

We will be playing it like we did with the Med. Front tournament. There will be two sides of 8 players each. The commanding officers will pick opponents and designate a 2 point player. Everyone will play each scenario from their designated side. That one side will determine whether you win or lose a point. You can switch sides for fun but it will not count toward victory. So, there will be a possibility of 9 points available each round.

After each round, point differentials will determine what 'advantage' will be awarded next round. The commanding general will determine how it will be implemented.

Here is what I propose thanks to VanVoort(any other ideas are still accepted):

If the differential after a round is:

1 point - dig in one unit
2 points - add one badge to one unit (infantry only)
3 points - add one infantry of your choice on your baseline or as close as possible.
4 points - add one regular armor unit on or as close to baseline as possible.
5 points or more - add any unit of your choice (except mobile artillery) 3 hexes or closer to baseline.

The commanding Generals for each side are:

HELCAT and SAM1812

If they want, they can conduct a private draft for their teammates or I can assign their team. After the teams are selected I will assign which sides they will represent.

Looney

By the way, if there is one side your really want to play, as Van Voort has asked in the next post, let me know.

Looney Llama,

What? Choose sides? Ah, I will go with the schoolyard system and have the men in charge choose, as long as I am not the last one chosen!! Will bring back bad childhood memories!!!

Sounds like it will be a blast and incentive based on the point bonus is a great idea. We know the number of players per side, how many scenarios in total?

Until the end of the Med Front and the beginning of the Eastern Front, may you hit what you are aiming for!!